An al Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for what it said was an attack in northern Togo that left at least six people dead on Saturday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The attack struck an army barracks close to the border with Burkina Faso. Togo has, until recently, been spared the jihadist violence that has ravaged its northern neighbours Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger for over a decade.

SITE late on Monday quoted a statement by Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) saying that "fighters on July 20 took control of a Togolese army barracks in Dapaong in the northern part of the country, killing six elements and seizing many weapons".

Togo's army spokesperson told Reuters he did not have enough details to comment on the attack.

In its statement, JNIM also claimed responsibility for attacks on eight other military operations in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, saying it killed more than 22 troops in total in a span of four days.

Violence in the Sahel region south of the Sahara started when jihadist groups hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in the north of Mali in 2012.

Groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State have since seized territory despite costly military efforts to push them back, spreading into Burkina Faso and Niger and more recently into the north of coastal countries such as Togo.

Thousands have been killed and millions more displaced in the process.

Authorities' failure to protect civilians contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger since 2020.

Juntas have since turned their backs on traditional Western allies and sought Russian support for fighting the groups. In March, the three countries set up a joint force to tackle security threats across their territories.

Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Additional reporting by Alice Lawson in Lome Editing by Sofia Christensen, Alexandra Hudson